Vietnam welcomes US investors: President

NDO/ VNA – President Tran Dai Quang encouraged US businesses to make investment in Vietnam’s energy, oil and gas, infrastructure, finance-banking, education and training, and tourism while addressing a workshop on the Vietnam-US prospects in 2017 and the following years in Hanoi on May 19.

The event was jointly held by the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry (VCCI) and the American Chamber of Commerce (AmCham).

Vietnam hopes to export to the US its farm produce, seafood, timber products, garment-textile, electronics, and consumer products, while importing hi-tech commodities to serve the local economy, he said.

He added that the country highly values investment projects of US businesses and vows to provide the optimal conditions for foreign investors to make long-term investment.

The successful economic cooperation will create an important foundation for the bilateral comprehensive partnership to grow in a sustainable, constructive and mutually beneficial manner, he said.

He told participants that Vietnam has gained significant achievements over the past 30 years of renovation and become a middle-income developing country, he said, adding that the gross domestic product (GDP) per capita is expected to reach US$3,200-US$3,500 by 2020 while the economic size will stand at nearly US$350 billion.

“As an active and responsible member of the ASEAN Economic Community, Vietnam is proactively speeding up international economic integration. The country has also signed 12 free trade agreements (FTA) and is pushing ahead with the negotiations of four others,” he said.

The Southeast Asian nation has also decided to get involved in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – a new-generation trade pact with high and comprehensive commitments with the hope of joining deeply in the global value chain, he added.

He affirmed that Vietnam is persistently pursuing three breakthroughs, namely improving the socialist-oriented market economy institutions, developing high-quality human resources, and building synchronous and modern infrastructure.

Many multinational groups, including those from the US, are doing business successfully in Vietnam, he said, noting that the US is ranked eighth among countries and territories having direct investment in Vietnam.

The bilateral trade has incessantly increased from US$15 billion in 2008 to US$52 billion in 2016. The US exports to Vietnam hit over US$10 billion in 2016, a year-on-year rise of 43%, he said.

The Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam) and the US-based Exxon Mobil Corp have signed a framework agreement on the Blue Whale project development and gas sale worth around US$10 billion, which is expected to make the US one of the leading investors in Vietnam, he noted.

The relations between Vietnam and the US have seen significant strides according to the orientations of the bilateral comprehensive partnership set up in 2013 as well as the Joint Vision Statement reached during the historical visit to the US by Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong in July 2015 and the Vietnam-US Joint Statement reached during the trip to Vietnam by former President Barack Obama in May 2016.

President Quang said that US President Donald Trump’s acceptance of the invitation to attend the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting 2017 in Vietnam demonstrates the US’s interest in promoting the bilateral cooperation.

“Development cooperation continues to be an impetus to the bilateral relations to push trade and investment ties,” he said.

US Ambassador to Vietnam Ted Osius said US enterprises are keen to access the Vietnamese market and affirmed the development prospects in the countries’ economic, trade and investment relations is a foundation for the bilateral future relations.

Tami Overby, Senior Vice President for Asia at the US Chamber of Commerce, said the organisation is seeking specific measures to increase the two nations’ trade, including the prospect of a bilateral free trade agreement.